Kimberly, I've read her first three books, also known as the Princes trilogy.

One thing that makes Hoyt immediately stand out is the way she weaves well-known (or made up!) fairytales and legends into her main story. I found it very clever when I first read The Raven Prince. In that novel, the story wasn't a straight parallel of the hero and heroine's relationship--and I remember at least one other user of these boards complained about that--but it was the kind of "intertext exercise" I encountered a lot as an English major; so I enjoy that aspect of her writing very much.

Another plus is that she writes interesting stories aside from the love story. There is a small mystery and intrigue subplot in The Raven Prince, a bigger mystery with Thriller elements in The Leopard Prince, and a revenge/dueling subplot with a surprise twist at the end in The Serpent Prince.

I suppose now is a good time to say something about her sex scenes. They are some of the most graphic I've ever read and I'm surprised that at least two of her books have been rated Hot rather than Burning. Not that I'm complaining too much, but . . . some of the language gives me pause.

There were also lots of times during my reading of all three books when I felt I could see Hoyt writing. I'd read a sentence and kind of "hear" her in my head thinking, "Oh, that's a great line! I should leave it in!" That was the first time I ever reacted to an author this way. Authors are usually invisible to me when I read their books, but I could imagine myself in Hoyt's mind during the writing of each chapter. That's just a strange way of putting the fact that I just don't find her prose easy to slide into.

I also generally find her Historicals to be wallpaperish. That doesn't have to be a big deal, of course. Lisa Kleypas and Julia Quinn often seem wallpaperish to me, too, but I still buy what they write.

I hope this helps you, Kimberly! _________________"To be in a romance is to be in uncongenial surroundings. To be born into this earth is to be born into uncongenial surroundings, hence to be born into a romance." (G.K. Chesterton)

I suppose now is a good time to say something about her sex scenes. They are some of the most graphic I've ever read and I'm surprised that at least two of her books have been rated Hot rather than Burning. Not that I'm complaining too much, but . . . some of the language gives me pause. Embarassed

I've only read The Serpent Prince, but I had the same reaction with the Hot/Burning rating. After reading one of the scenes, I went to AAR to see the rating it had gotten and was surprised! However, no complaints from this corner...

To the OP, I never quite got into the other two books in the Princes trilogy, and I haven't tried her newest, but TSP was so good I'm going back and giving the others a try._________________"Excuse me," said an icy voice from the bed. "I'm frigging bleeding to death. Mathilda can go tip a pike." -- Derek Craven, Dreaming of You

Also, I am new to forums and I don't understand the shorthand. Is there a list somewhere?

OP?
TSP?

TSP = The Serpent Prince
OP = original poster

Quote:

Oh, I almost forgot. . . . is there cheating? long separations? multiple sex partners? I hate to be so old fashioned, but I'm strictly a one on one, male/female girl. HOT sex is fine, though.

The sex itself (at least in TSP) is between the h/h, so don't worry. Well, actually, there's also masturbation, which some people have a problem with. And, er, there's something else, but it might be considered a spoiler so only highlight if you want to be spoiled: there's a part where the heroine is touching herself and you don't know the hero is watching her until after the fact. VERY hot!

It's just that Hoyt uses some really graphic language/descriptions that place it (at least in my mind) in the "Burning" category. I get bored with a lot of love scenes in romances these days because they all start to sound the same, but Hoyt managed to catch my interest... _________________"Excuse me," said an icy voice from the bed. "I'm frigging bleeding to death. Mathilda can go tip a pike." -- Derek Craven, Dreaming of You

I would not recommend you start with her most recent release To Taste Temptation though. To me, the heroine in TTT was a bit hard to warm to and some may not like her at all. I would suggest starting with the Princes trilogy and I'd read them in order starting with the wonderful (my fave) The Raven Prince, then The Leopard Prince and then The Serpent Prince, though they don't need to be read in order.